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Bio:

EDUCATION:

A.B., Honors, History, 1972, University of Illinois at Chicago.

M.A., Comparative Labor History, 1974, Center for The Study of Social History, University of Warwick (Coventry, England).

Ph.D., History, 1981, University of Pittsburgh.

RELATED ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:

Assistant Professor to Professor and Chair, Department of History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1984-Present; Chair, 1997-2000; Assoc. Chair, 1987-1989; Assoc. Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, 1991-1993; Faculty Affiliate, African-American Studies and Research Program, 1986-Present; Campus Honors Program Faculty, 1995-Present. Coursework: large lecture courses in Twentieth Century and 1877-Present, U.S.; upper division courses in U.S., 1900-1933, U.S. Urban and Social, and U.S. Working Class History; undergraduate seminars in US urban and social history; graduate reading and research seminars in U.S. Immigration and Comparative Social History, particularly class, race, and ethnicity.

PUBLICATIONS:

Books:

James R. Barrett, William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism, University of Illinois Press, 1999; paper, 2001.

James R. Barrett, Work and Community in 'The Jungle': Chicago's Packing House Workers, 1894-1922, University of Illinois Press, 1987; paper, 1990.

(with David Roediger) “Irish Hosts and White Pan-Ethnicity: Or, Who Made the New Immigrants Inbetween?” SSRC Study Group on Race and Immigration, Santa Cruz, CA, March 7-9, 2002.

“What Is Working Class History and Why Should Our Children Study It?” Champaign County AFL-CIO, January 31, 2002.

“Vatican II Comes to the West Side: Race and Religion in Chicago, 1950-1970,” Father Martin Mangan Memorial Lecture, Decatur, Illinois, December 10, 2001.

“New Work on the History of the ‘New Immigrant’ Workers,” North American Labor History Conference, Detroit, October 17-20, 2001.

“The Blessed Virgin Made Me a Socialist Historian: An Experiment in Autobiography and the Historiography of Race and Class,” invited paper, conference, Faith and History, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, March 29-April 1, 2001.